{"id":725670,"date":"2026-08-03T08:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T08:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/725670\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T08:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T08:15:15","slug":"metro-readers-urged-to-help-find-schoolgirl-who-vanished-nearly-50-years-ago-news-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/725670\/","title":{"rendered":"Metro readers urged to help find schoolgirl who vanished nearly 50 years ago | News UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_307001729-5d43.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-29269625\" alt=\"Girl who went missing 40 years ago now feared murdered - direct appeal to Metro readers picture: Met Police Suzanne Lawrence\" decoding=\"sync\"\/><br \/>\n\t\tSuzanne Lawrence disappeared after leaving home with her 13-year-old sister Michelle in Harold Hill, east London (Picture: Met Police)<\/p>\n<p>A 14-year-old girl who vanished in 1979 is feared to have been murdered, as officers directly appeal to Metro readers for help. <\/p>\n<p>Suzanne Lawrence disappeared after leaving home with her 13-year-old sister Michelle in Harold Hill, east <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/london\/\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">London<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>They told their mum they were staying with friends in Dagenham, but Michelle returned home five days later, alone. <\/p>\n<p>The pair had met three boys, aged around 14 to 17, at a fair in Highbury Fields, north London.<\/p>\n<p>They were taken to a nearby squat where they stayed for two nights, but Michelle returned home after getting into an argument with her sister. <\/p>\n<p>She expected her Suzanne to come home the next day, but she has not been seen since. <\/p>\n<p>Police originally believed Suzanne joined the travelling fair, but are now exploring the circumstances of her disappearance \u2013 including if she came to harm.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img width=\"325\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_307001412-6f1a.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-29269626\" alt=\"Girl who went missing 40 years ago now feared murdered - direct appeal to Metro readers picture: Met Police Suzanne Lawrence\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n\t\tSuzanne was 14 when she vanished in 1979 (Picture: Met Police)<\/p>\n<p>Michelle said: \u2018I was the last member of the family to be with my sister before she disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We left home together and for a period we were both trying to survive away from home.\u00a0Eventually I returned, but Suzanne did not.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Many years have passed, but not a day goes by without wondering what happened to her.\u00a0 Our mother is now elderly and, like me, has lived for decades without knowing what became of her daughter.\u00a0 No family should have to endure such uncertainty for so long.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018If my sister is alive, I want her to know that she has never been forgotten.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Police are directly appealing to Metro readers as some of the last sightings of Suzanne were on public transport. <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tLatest London news\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>To get the latest news from the capital, visit Metro&#8217;s <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/london\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">London news hub<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"570\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEI_307001405-b4ab-e1785509313832.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-29269628\" alt=\"Girl who went missing 40 years ago now feared murdered - direct appeal to Metro readers picture: Met Police Suzanne Lawrence\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n\t\tAn e-fit of what Suzanne could look like now (Picture: Met Police)<\/p>\n<p>The sisters left Neave Comprehensive <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/school\/\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">School<\/a> in Harold Hill and caught the bus to Romford train station on July 27 1979. They caught the train to central London.<\/p>\n<p>They then stayed in a property near the then Highbury Stadium before spending the next two nights at the squat with the boys a 15-minute walk away from Highbury Fields. <\/p>\n<p>Detective Chief Inspector Kam Sodhi said: \u2018This is about finding answers for Suzanne\u2019s sister and wider family, who cannot understand why she never came home.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I want to appeal directly to Metro readers to help us with this appeal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018If you know anything, however small, that could help us find out what has happened please get in touch with us.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/08\/03\/metro-readers-urged-help-find-schoolgirl-vanished-nearly-50-years-ago-29266629\/mailto:webnews@metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">For more stories like this, <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\">check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\">Arrow<br \/>\nMORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/08\/02\/wildfires-wreak-havoc-shutting-trains-major-london-airport-29282096\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wildfires wreak havoc with passengers evacuated from trains to major London airport<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\">Arrow<br \/>\nMORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/08\/02\/foreign-national-26-arrested-british-woman-found-dead-suitcase-athens-29281696\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Afghan man, 26, arrested after British charity worker found dead in suitcase in Athens<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\">Arrow<br \/>\nMORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/08\/02\/moment-shane-richie-aggressively-refuses-stop-vaping-garage-arrest-29281195\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moment Shane Richie \u2018aggressively\u2019 refuses to stop vaping at garage before arrest<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tComment now<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tComments<br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tAdd as preferred source<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBreaking News<\/p>\n<p>Never miss the biggest stories with breaking news alerts in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Suzanne Lawrence disappeared after leaving home with her 13-year-old sister Michelle in Harold Hill, east London (Picture: Met&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2925,59,57,58,388,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-725670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-crime-news","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-london","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}